Purpose of reading monthly accounting reports

The Summary Report in Whole Dollars and the Report of Transactions are printed and mailed to
budget managers and project investigators on a monthly basis. These budget reports are also available on-line and we encourage the use of this on-line access. These reports summarize the specific fiscal transactional data processed against authorized university accounts during any monthly reporting period. Because the two reports are complementary, they are prepared simultaneously and thus should be considered and read as one report.

Summary Report Definition

The Summary report in Whole Dollars is commonly referred to as the monthly "budget report" or
"budget printout" and is prepared for accounts appearing in subsidiary ledgers 1 through 9. The data is a summation of transactions and is expressed in whole dollars(rounding up occurs when cents >.50) even though specific dollars and cents are always maintained in the accounting system.

Although the reports are intended to be uniform for any account in Subsidiary ledgers 1 through 9,
different dollar data will appear on the report depending on the rules governing the accounts. Specifically, those rules are determined if:

1. The account includes income only, expense only, or both income and expense.

2. The account has a reporting period other than the University's fiscal year, July 1 through June 30.

3. The account is sponsored or general funds.

Report of Transactions Definition

The Report of Transactions lists the details of budget, cash receipts, cash disbursements, commitments
and journal entries as posted to an account during any single month.

Account Number

The UVM six digit account number assigned to this restricted award. All restricted grants and contracts are assigned an account that starts with a subsidiary 5 ledger.

Account Total (Report of Transaction page)

The account total is the net amount for the budget entries, revenue/expense, and commitment columns on the Report of Transaction Page.

Adjustments

This column refers to transaction processed to further change the open commitment amount.

Agency Award Number

This is unique identifier that the agency has assigned this particular award.

Balance Available

This column represents the arithmetic difference of Revised Budget less Project Year expenses
less open commitments.  (Balance Available = Revised budget -Project year expenses - open commitments)

Batch Ref Date

This information is the batch control identification and date utilized when processing transactions
into the accounting system computer files.

Budget Entries

The budget entry column represents dollar amounts incrementing or decrementing this
account's budget during the month.

Budget Manager

The principal investigator who is responsible for managing the account.

Commitments

The commitments column represents changes to commitments which result from purchase orders,
travel authorizations, payroll, or indirect cost transactions.

Completed

This column indicates that the encumbrance amount has been brought to zero and will not
appear on next month's report.

Current Month

This column are the whole dollar amounts of actual dollars received or expended this month.
These amounts can be traced to the "Report of Transactions" page.

Current Revenue/Expense

The current revenue/expense column are cash receipts, cash disbursements and accounting entries
which are charged or credited to this account during the month.

Date (Report of Transaction page)

The date represents the month and date the transaction was posted in the computer file.

Description (on Budget summary report)

This field refers to the description given the subcode. Descriptions are either system assigned
or user defined.

Description (on transaction page)

The description are key words or abbreviations describing the transaction such as a vendor
to whom an accounts paybable voucher has been processed.

Fiscal Year

This column are the whole dollar amounts accumulated since the first day of the fiscal year, July1st.

Home Department Account Number

This account number is the budget manager's department from which he/she is organizationally aligned with.

Liquidating Expenditures

This colum refers to charges which have been processed against the commitments listed.

Offset Account

The offset account represents another UVM account which is affected by a specific transaction.
This other account always will be listed for inter-departmental charges, accounting entries and
payroll transactions. Payroll is always disbursed from a pyaroll clearing account and subsequently
distributed by accounting entry to deparmental accounts.

Open Commitments (Encumbrances)

This column represents funds that have been set aside or "claimed" for projected expenses pending
actual expenditure of the funds. Salary, purchase orders, sub-contracts and travel expenses are typical commitments seen in this column. The current balances commited at the end of the month are listed at the end of the Summary Report.

Original Budget

This column is the initial budget amount established for this account at the beginning of the award
for sponsored accounts and at the beginning of the fiscal year for general funds accounts.

Project Year

This column represents the whole dollar amounts accumulated since the start date of the award.

Ref (on budget summary report)

This is the reference number of the original commitment. Examples are salary commitments,
purchase orders, future travel, fringe, and indirect costs.

Ref (Report of Transactions)

Ref is the second reference to a specific source document causing the transaction.
It is used for the following transactions:

1. Budget change orders and budget request forms

2. Internal University charges such as work orders.

3. Commitments/charges resulting form payroll, purchase orders or travel authorizations.

Reporting Date

This the month, day and year of the report. This report is available on-line 2 days following
the close of the month. The reports is usually mailed between the 3rd and 5th working
following the close of the month.

Revised Budget

This column represents the amended original budget (either incremented or decremented).

Start End Tech-RPT

These dates represent the beginning of the award, the end of the award, and the date
when the technical report is due.

Sub-code

This field is a four digit identifier which defines categories of revenue or expense.
Subcodes <1000 are revenue and Subcodes = or > than 1000 are expenses.

Subtotals

A subtotal is derived every time the leading digit of the subcode changes. Salaries, operating,
equipment, fringe benefits, and indirect costs.

Total Expenses

These figures represents the summation of all subcodes from 1000 or greater.


TC (TRANSACTION CODE)

TC identifies the transaction type in the following manner:

02X    for budget transactions
03X    for Cash receipt transactions
05X    for commitment or encumbrance transactions
06X    for journal entry or interdepartmental charge/credit transactions
           and accounts payable transactions.

"X" represents a variable that is used for more specific transactions that fall within the type of transaction.

* (Asterisk next to a particular subcode on the budget summary report)

This identifier indicates that this particular subcode is restricted in some way by the awarding agency. This budget item is treated as a separate item rather than being treated as a subcode within a general pool of expenses such as operating. The typical restricted subcodes are travel, sub-contracts, stipends, and individual consulting.

Most accounts are budgeted in pools at the 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 subcode levels. As dollars are spent or committed, the computer draws an equal amount from the budget pool to the specific subcode level. When certian subcodes are defined so that they are treated as a pool by themselves, an asterisk is placed to the left of the appropriate subcode.

2nd REF (tran report)

The 2nd reference is the reference given to the source document causing the transaction
(a cash receipt #, voucher number, interdepartmental charge form number).

1.   UNRESTRICTED INCOME ONLY                      (GENERAL FUND)

2.   UNRESTRICTED EXPENSE ONLY                     (GENERAL FUND)

3.   UNRESTRICTED INCOME AND EXPENSE      (GENERAL FUND)

4.   RESTRICTED EXPENSE ONLY FOR SPECIAL COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
      AND SCHOOL OF NATURAL  RESOURCES FUNDS.

5.   RESTRICTED EXPENSE ONLY FOR OTHER SPONSORED GRANTS AND CONTRACTS.

6.   RESTRICTED EXPENSE ONLY FOR GIFTS AND ENDOWMENTS

7.   CAPITAL PROJECT EXPENSE ONLY

8.   NOT CURRENTLY BEING USED

9.   NON-UNIVERSITY EXPENSE FOR STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS, ETC.